When former American Secretary of State, John Kerry, visited Mongolia in 2016, he called the landlocked country "An Oasis of Democracy"-- sandwiched between two superpowers then and still now being questioned for human rights records, which are Russia and China.
But it seems this Oasis is shrinking, the gains of the Revolution of 1989-1990 were diminishing. Freedom's peak was during the presidency of Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, one of the revolutionary leaders, from 2009 to 2017; he championed human rights (he resisted the popularity of capital punishment and abolished the penalty), transparency, accountability and good governance. But as his presidency ended, so did the golden days of Mongolian democracy. Western media labelled Elbegdorj' partymate and successor, former wrestler Khaltmaagiin Battulga (both Democrats (DP), a populist due to his nationalist rhetoric. His government's major democracy issues however developed under the watch of both his (himself) and his opposition (Mongolian People's Party (MPP)): in March 2019, Battulga proposed a bill seeking to grant the country's National Security Council to dismiss judges, prosecutors and the head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, against his own party's wishes and in favour of the MPP, which had the majority in Parliament at that time and thus approved the bill; then he became at odds with the MPP, as he tried to disband the party in April 2021 for attempting to change the Constitution to prohibit him from re-running in elections (the Constitutional Court blocked him). In his early years of presidency, he tried to reverse his predecessor's achievement of abolishing death penalty, although the punishment is yet to be reinstated to date.
Battulga's prime minister was Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, but amidst a childbirth mismanagement scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic, he resigned on 21 January 2021, to the surprise of the Mongolian public and the international community, only for him to come back to power after elections in June of that year. What was Elbegdorj' criticism to injustices such as the attack on the Mongolian language in neighbouring Inner Mongolia and Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was Khürelsükh's indifference: his government refused to stand up to Mongolia's autocratic neighbours, meeting Russian and Chinese leaders and officials without concern to attacks to rules-based order. The proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which would pass from Russia to China through Mongolia, would have gradually veered the landlocked nation towards its neighbours and away from the West, but construction is delayed and its fate is uncertain.
Khürelsükh and his government did not help reverse the democratic backsliding happened during the Battulga presidency, because the incumbent's party MPP has responsibility thereon. Rather, this further worsened, especially when the editor-in-chief of the news portal Zarig.mn, Naran Unurtsetseg, was arrested on 04 December 2023 for questioning the prolonging of a court hearing of an elderly individual, alerting Mongolian media and international rights watchdogs.
This trend has not stopped it being the favourite in the polls for the country's legislative elections. The backsliding trend and the regime's submission to its neighbours are unlikely to stop, but in any way, the Mongolian Oasis is trapped in drought and evaporation: if somebody like Elbegdorj were leading the country today, the country would expect more severe pressure from the more audacious and more resolute Russia and China, which challenge and are being challenged by the West also trapped in prospects of a renewed global conflict posing to be worse than World War II. Such pressure is unwanted by Mongolia, so the Khürelsükh regime opts to befriend the neighbouring dictatorships.
I am not glad with the Mongolian democracy stuck between rock and steel. What I only wish is for the individual Mongolian to at least have some sense of dignity like Elbegdorj in the politics bugged by corruption and noxious geopolitics.
Article posted on 28 June 2024, 22:40 (UTC +08:00).
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